A known electron microscope includes a computer operable to monitor and adjust various operating parameters of the microscope, such as an accelerating voltage (EHT) used to accelerate electrons in the microscope. The computer is operable to adjust the operating parameters in accordance either with a control algorithm or commands entered by a user of the microscope.
The computer can communicate with another computer via the Internet. The user can operate the microscope from the other computer, which can be remote from the microscope. However, this requires both computers to be connected to the Internet, and a continuous connection between the computers to be maintained.
The operations carried out by an electron microscope can take many hours to complete. For example, x-ray scanning of a mineral sample can take twenty hours or more. Some microscopes include a focused ion beam (FIB) column for milling (i.e. using an ion beam to remove layers of a specimen). Milling operations can take several hours to complete. At present the user must initiate an operation at the microscope or at the other computer, then return to the microscope or to the other computer from time to time to determine whether the microscope has completed the operation, or whether a fault has occurred that has prevented completion of the operation.